Ichigo Ichie: Endings and Beginnings
by mialuv998
Summary: AU, SasuHina “You, Uchiha Sasuke, have been dead for three days now. Normally, dead people, spirits or souls--if you will--find their way to the world beyond.” He paused, his head tilted slightly, his eyes squinted in contemplation. “You haven't."


_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Naruto._

_**A/N:** Was originally in Ichi-go Ichi-e, One Time One Meeting, but my imagination got the best of me and it was too big to leave there. So I decided it should have its own place on here. Note that this is still Ichi-go, Ichi-e, because it was its original theme...taken to a whole different level. Enjoy! ^_^_

**Ichi-go, Ichi-e**

_(One Time, One Meeting)_

_Endings and Beginnings_

"Hello Sasuke." A voice said above me. I looked up to the silhouette of man slouched over with ease as he observed my hunched form. Somehow, a grunt managed to make its way pass my thin-lipped mouth. I eyed the guy as he slid into the hard plastic chair next to me. _Who was this guy?_ He seemed to know me, but I really couldn't recall having ever met him before.

Funny thing was, from the moment he called my name I couldn't seem to recall much of anything outside of my own name. My senses flared with faint recognition. All around me people were bustling around. Others congregated into their little groups, sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs, chatting among themselves or sat alone reading old _National Geographic_ magazines. The air was sour with disinfectant and dry of any humidity. One question prodded my mind among the thick fogginess disorienting me.

"Where am I?" I stared at my hands in shock. Truthfully, it wasn't hard to figure out where I was. The atmosphere around me screamed hospital, but it didn't look like any hospital I'd ever been too. I didn't even remember how I'd gotten there. I just remember becoming aware of my surroundings, as if someone had woken me from a long and confusing dream.

I glanced around, trying to find something--anything--that made sense to me. Then I turned and stared at the guy sitting next to me. A dark eye twinkled with mischief above the dark blue cloth covering his mouth and nose. Light gray hair that spiked out in every direction, covered his other eye. A smile seemed to work beneath his mask.

"How are you feeling Sasuke?" He still hadn't answered my question, and he didn't look like he intended to do so either.

"I…don't know." I answered in spite of myself. Every instinct in my body screamed for my defiance. Why should I answer him? I had no reason to.

"Excellent!" His eye twinkled and I'd swear his smile grew wider beneath that mask of his. He slid as easily to his feet as he'd slid in to the chair previously, then glanced down at me. "We should get going. We don't want you to be late."

I blame my compliance on my confusion. Instinct and all that, you know. When confused, trust the one person who seemed like they knew what was going on. It might not be the smartest course of action, but it was better than just sitting there.

"Where are we going?" I sided stepped a nurse bustling down the hall, her white shoes squeaking with her quick steps. People around here didn't seem to notice us as we made our way through hospital. Bells and whistles should've been going off inside my head at this point, but in my confusion, I just seemed to accept this. They were too busy to consider the two of strolling down the hall.

Again, he ignored my question in favor of sauntering along and whistling a little tone that began to eat at my already frazzled nerves.

I opened my mouth to speak again when he stopped just short of a closed heavy wooden door. Then he turned and looked at me. "Here we are."

"And where is '_here_'?" I asked.

"Why the place where you will met your _Charge_, of course."

"I don't understand."

He chuckled. I really didn't like where this was headed. "Nobody ever really understands until it's over, but I'll humor you." I felt my face twist up in a scowl as I looked at him through narrowed eyes, waiting for him to continue. "You, Uchiha Sasuke, have been dead for--oh I'd say around three days now. Normally, dead people, spirits or souls--if you will--find their way to the world beyond." He paused, his head tilted slightly, his eyes squinted in contemplation. "You haven't found your way to the world beyond."

"What?" I asked. "So I'm stuck here, is that what your saying?"

He shook his head, chuckling once again. This guy really was getting on my nerves. "Not at all! What I'm saying is you are _special_." The way he emphasized the word 'special' made my skin crawl, or rather what seemed like my skin.--_Do spirits have skin?_

He continued as _I_ continued to scowl at him. "Somewhere in your time on the Earth you lost a piece of yourself. A very important piece. It's hard to say what it was exactly you lost or how you lost it. However, for people like you, there's a chance to get it back again. This is your chance to get it back."

"What if I don't want it back?"

"See, that's just the thing. You wouldn't be here if you didn't want it."

"So you're saying that I lost something and until I get it back, I'm going nowhere?"

"Pretty much."

"So what does this '_Charge_' have to do with finding this so called thing that I lost?"

"It's simple. You are the _Guardian_ of your _Charge_. Your 'job' is to look out for them through out their lifetime. In doing so they will help you find the part of you that you lost."

"Look out for them? How am I supposed to look out for them?"

"That's something you will have to figure out for yourself." He smiled at me through his mask. "Now, I'll leave you here to await the arrival of your charge. She should be here within the next 5 minutes, assuming there aren't any complications."

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I'm supposed to meet her in the hall?"

"No, Genius, Charges are always the new arrivals," he said, pointing to the sign above the door reading '_Delivery Room_'. Then I heard the screaming from the room just beyond the door.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

I heard the rustle of his clothes and the soft treading of his feet as he came to stand behind me. Then I felt his hand at my back and hard shove he gave me as I passed through the cold wall and stumbled into the Delivery Room.

The screaming was infinitely louder in here. Everyone was on edge and congregated around a woman lying in a bed.

"Okay, one more time Hikari. Take a deep breath, hold it in and push!" Said the man hunkered down between the woman's legs. I assumed this was the doctor delivering my Charge.

I flinched when I caught sight of the event before me. I don't know what assaulted my senses first, the squelch of body fluids as a tiny little head popped of the woman's distorted vagina, the sight of blood that came with it, or the metallic smell accompanying it along with the sourness of disinfectant. If I'd been alive, nothing would've stopped me from emptying my stomach on the floor.

"There we go," the doctor said, maneuvering first one shoulder, then the other out of the birth canal. "It's a girl!" He lifted the baby up, showing her to her mother, before handing her off to one of the nurses standing by.

One of the other nurses standing off to the side spoke. "What a precious girl. Do you have a name for her?"

"Yes." The woman said. "Hyuuga Hinata."


End file.
